Cattle-guard.



No. 851,431. PATENTED APR. 23, 1907.

K. B. NORMAN.

CATTLE GUARD. APPLICATION IILED JULY so, 1906.

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. alternate tongues KIRTLEY B. NORMAN, OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

CATTLE-GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

ratenteu April 23, 1907,

Application filed July 30,1906. Serial Na 328,393.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, KIRTLEY B. N ORMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Knoxville, in the county of Knox and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cattle-Guards, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My improvement relates to cattle-guards for railways and particularly to guards which are applied directly upon ties laid and ballasted in the ordinary manner.

The object of the improvement is to provide an eflicient cattle-guard consisting of pieces which may be readily and economically manufactured and may be easily applied to and removed from the track.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of a railroad track hav ing my improved cattle-guard applied thereto; Fig. 2 is an upright section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail view of a portion of one of the tongue plates.

In the form shown in the drawings, there are three guards, each independent of the other, one located between the rails and two located outside of the rails. Said guards are substantially duplicates, the only difference being that the one between the rails is wider than those located outside of the rails. Hence a description of any one of said guards will, in effect, be a description of all.

T, T are the ordinary wooden ties, R, It are ordinary track rails, and F, F are leaning sections of fence standing parallel to the track at each side of the guards.

Each guard is composed of a tongue plate, I, and any desired number of rib pieces, 3. Each tongue plate is preferably rectangular in outline and provided with any desired number of tongues, 2, standing transversely to the length of the track. Said tongues are preferably formed by slitting said sheet on three sides of a rectangle of the dimensions of the tongue and then bending the strip thus freed upward. Said tongues are preferably arranged in rows parallel to the track, the being directed oppositely. Thus the bases of the tongues of adjacent rows will stand in lines parallel to each other and separated by a narrow strip of metal, and between adjacent rows of said tongues there is a relatively narrow flat surface upon which may rest one of the rib pieces, 3. In the form shown in the drawings, said rib plates are formed by bending a strip of flat sheet l l l metal lengthwise along its middle so as to form a piece being of V-shape cross-section, the open part of said piece being directed downward and the piece being supported upon the tongue plate by its edges. Rib pieces, 3, are also shoun placed upon the tongue plates at the sides of the rails, It. The tongue plates and the rib pieces may be secured to the ties in any suitable manner, as by means of nails or spikes, 4. The tongues, 2, may be bent upward to any desired inclination, and they may be set as closely to each other as desired. \Vhen cattle step upon said guard, a removal of the foot is at once prompted by the yielding of one or more of the tongues and the consequent shifting of the footprobably scratching or cutting the foot on an adjacent tongue; or if the foot is placed upon one of the rib pieces, it will slip down one of the sloping faces of said rib pieces and against one or more of the adjacent tongues, whereby the foot is pressed or cut so as to induce retreat.

It will be observed that there are no openleg of the animal may extend so as to hold the animal and obstruct the track. It will also be observed that the nieces constituting the guard may be readily removed when it is desired to repair the por tion of the track covered by the guard.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a cattle-guard, a metallic tongue plate comprising raised tongues, and rib pieces extending across said tongue plate between said tongues, substantially as described.

2. In a cattle-guard, a metallic tongue plate comprising raised tongues standing in parallel rows, the tongues in each row alternating in direction, and rib pieces resting upon said plate between said rows of tongues, substantially as described.

3. In a cattle-guard, a metallic tongue plate comprising raised tongues integral with said plate and standing in parallel rows, the tonguesin each row alternating in direction, and rib pieces resting upon said plate between said tongues, substantially as described.

4. In a cattleguard, a metallic tongue late comprising raised tongues, and sheet metal rib pieces extending across said tongue plate between said tongues, substantially as described:

5. In a cattle-guard, a metallic tongue plate comprising raised tongues standing in ings into which the parallel rows, the tongues in each row alternating in direction, and sheet metal pieces resting between said rows of tongues, substantially as described.

6. In a cattle-guard, a metallic tongue plate comprising raised tongues integral With said plate and standing in parallel rows, the 1 tongues in each row alternating in direction, and sheet metal rib pieces resting upon said plate between said tongues, substantially as described. a 7. In a cattle-guard, the combination with l the ties and rails of a railway track, of metallic tongue plates comprising raised tongues and rib pieces extending across said plates between said. tongues and between said tongues and the said rails, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 23rd day of July, in the year one thousand nine and siX.

KIRTLEY B. NORMAN.

hundred lVitnesses CYRUS KEI-IR, O. A. MORSE. 

